Taroflex
The Taroflex (タローフレックス) is a Japanese 6×6 TLR made by Nippon Kōsokki in 1943–4. Date: advertisements listed in , p.337, run from 1943 to 1944. Description The Taroflex is a 6×6 TLR. The focusing is done by moving the front plate back and forth. The film advance is semi-automatic, with a red window under the camera, only used to set the position of the first exposure. The focusing and film advance knobs are on the photographer's right, and there is a round exposure counter window at the top of the right-hand side plate. The focusing knob is surrounded by a depth-of-field plate. The shutter release button is at the bottom of the front, to the photographer's left. On all the variants, the taking lens is a 7.5cm f/3.5 and has a serial number and the viewing lens is usually a 7.5cm f/3.2 with no serial number. Advertisements and other documents The Taroflex was advertised in Japanese magazines from March 1943. , p.337. The May 1943 advertisement in Hōdō Shashin, placed by the distributors Nihon Shōkai and Honjō Shōkai, gives the officially set price of . Advertisement reproduced in , p.78. The shutter is mentioned as an NKS (1–200, self-timer), and only the lens aperture is given. Another advertisement dated February 1944 gives the same price and shows the same picture. Advertisement on the second cover of , February 15, 1944, reproduced on p.64 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. It boasts the large magnifying lens, which can be opened by one hand, and mentions the lenses as either K.O.L. Taro Anastigmat f/3.5 or Toa Anastigmat f/3.5. The Taroflex also appears in the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese camera production. , item 114, under the name "Taro Ref" (タローレフ). The maker's name is unfortunately missing from the document. The lens is given as a four-element Toa 75/3.5 made by Riken and the shutter as an NKS (B, 1–200, self-timer) made by Nippon Kōsokki. After the war, an article in June 1947 says that the Taroflex was one of the better Japanese TLR cameras, and that its production would surely restart before the end of the year, Column in June 1947, reproduced in Awano, pp.5–6 of no.254: 国産二眼レフレックスでは、過去の製品中ではタローフレックスが際立って良い製作振りを見せてくれた。このタローフレックスも年内には再び生産開始の運びとなるらしく.... but it seems that nothing came out of this. An article written by Kitano Kunio in June 1949 says that the Taroflex and Minoltaflex were the best two Japanese TLR cameras made during the war, but only a few dozen examples of the Taroflex made it to the market. Kitano, p.49 of June 1949: 特に優秀と認められるのはミノルタフレックス、タローフレックスの二種。この中タローフレックスは数十台が市場に流れ出ただけであり完全なロライコード型で、今日でも中古品は珍重されている。 Variations and actual examples The camera pictured in the May 1943 and February 1944 advertisements has a viewing hood inspired from the Ikoflex, with the shape of a truncated pyramid and a logo in the middle reading NKS TARO. There is a large viewing loupe hinged to the front part of the hood. It is not clear if the hood contains a sportsfinder or not. The nameplate has a stepped frame and reads TAROFLEX in capital letters, or perhaps TARO FLEX with a narrow space between the two words. The company name NIPPON KOSOKUKI SEISAKUSHO TOKIO is written under the nameplate in small capital letters. It seems that the serial number is engraved at the bottom, under the moving front standard. Both lens rims are black. One of the two examples pictured in has Toa Anastigmat lenses and an NKS shutter (B, 1–200, self-timer) inscribed NKS–TOKIO on the speed rim. Example pictured in , item 2030. It is exactly similar to the advertised model, but for its silver lens rims. One example has been observed with the truncated pyramid hood, stepped nameplate and company name engraving but no serial number at the bottom. Example pictured in Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten, p.25. It has Toa Anastigmat lenses, with taking lens no.2963 and silver lens rims. The shutter is a Ceres giving B, 1–300 speeds. This shutter is certainly postwar: if this fitting is original, this would mean that the production and sales of the Taroflex continued after 1945. Two examples of the camera have been observed with a plain flat viewing hood and the stepped nameplate but no company name. Both have the serial number at the bottom and have the same NKS-Tokio shutter as previously described. One has Toa Anastigmat lenses, with silver rims. Example pictured in , item 2031. The other has a taking lens probably called K.O.L. Taro Anastigmat and a viewing lens whose name is unknown. Example observed in an online auction. One example has been observed with a flat nameplate, shaped as on the 1936 Rolleicord models. Example pictured in Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten, p.19. The name Taroflex is inscribed in fancy script letters, and the company name is engraved below. This example has body no.2627. The shutter is an NKS-Tokio. The taking lens is engraved TOA and RIKEN KOGAKU on a black rim, and has no.2622. The viewing lens has an unknown name ending in "Anastigmat", again on a black rim, and has a serial number (in the same 26xx range), unlike the viewing lenses observed on the other Taroflex. Notes Bibliography Original documents * Kitano Kunio (北野邦雄). "Mittsu no kokusan ōtomāto" (三つの国産オートマート, Three Japanese Automat). In vol.8 no.6, June 1949. Pp.48–53. (Briefly mentions the Taroflex.) * Item 114. * Advertisement on p.64, corresponding to the second cover of the February 15, 1944 issue. Recent sources * Item 141. (See also the interview of Tanimura Yoshihiko on p.440.) * Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Minorutafurekkusu Ōtomatto Shisakuki" (ミノルタフレックスオートマット試作機, Minoltaflex Automat prototypes). In no.254 (August 1998). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. * Kamera no mekanizumu sono I: "Hai! Chīzu" Shunkan o torae-tsuzukeru shattā-ten (カメラのメカニズム・そのⅠ・「ハイ！チーズ」瞬間をとらえ続けるシャッター展, Camera mechanism, part 1 "Cheese!" Exhibition of instant taking shutters). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 2002. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number) P.19. * P.39 (brief mention only). * P.915. * Item 2030–1. * Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Senzen umare no maboroshi no kokusan nigan-refu: 6×6-han no Sakurafurekkusu" (戦前生まれの幻の国産二眼レフ6×6判のサクラフレックス, A Japanese phantom TLR born before the war: the 6×6 Sakura-flex). Pp.122–4. The article has a front view of the Taroflex, showing the logo in the viewing hood. * Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.25. Category: Japanese 6x6 TLR Category: T